Route of 1000 Kasbah

We start in Tinghir, one of the cities that is mostly populated by the Amazigh people (berber) and also along the route of 1000 kasbahs. The kasbahs are large structures that served as fortresses along this popular route but later turned into residential structures. The city is close to nearby gorges. These kasbahs held feudal lords that were in charge of surrounding lands. Tinghir is now expanding quickly due to nearby silver mines.

We drive through many oasis like towns that have mud built kasbahs during the route of 1000 kasbahs.

During our journey police frequently pull over tour buses to have a record of stops, seat belts, and sometimes look at the cargo. Mileage, speed, stops and more are stored on a disc that they view. This disc looks like a CD.

Ouarzazate Solar Power Station is a complex power facility that harnesses the power of sun and stores energy as heated molten salt for energy production at night. The power station provides energy for the region. It is quite impressive, I wish I could have seen a facility in person.

We get closer to the mountain range again as we can see the snow covered mountains in the distance.

Today is cold and rainy as we expected. We get a slight break in the rain when we stop to see a kasbah in Ouarzazate. We learn about the history of the building and what it is made of. The walls are a mix of straw, earth, and gypsum (or adobe).

The interior is an earth and sand plaster. The foundation is stone.

Then ceilings are made of reeds and interior rooms have tile floors and no windows for privacy.

We stop briefly at a Amazigh (Berber) pharmacy to learn some natural remedies. I buy some medicine and herbs for cooking here.

Ouarzazate used to be more of a tourist stop along the desert route but better roads have tourists choosing to stay in other towns. We are staying here tonight in a really nice hotel. Unfortunately the rain and cold have us not enjoying all the outdoor amenities the hotel has to offer. Also the constant rain has us getting soaked whenever we walk from our outdoor rooms to the main lobby. Netherless we find a lull in the rain and walk around town on our own. Commerce has come to a halt because of bad weather but we visit some souks and get in views before the rain starts up again. After some shopping we head back to our hotel and camp out in our room the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow we continue our exploration of the region and then head through the mountain pass to get to Marrakech. We are entering the last part of the tour. We must make the most of these last few days.

Morocco: Drive to the Desert

Today is another early start as we have a very long drive to the Sahara. Lots of winding roads and vast change in scenery during our nine hour drive. We stop along the way for lunch and a couple of scenic pictures but other than that the majority of the day in in the van learning about the nomadic culture (Amazigh or Berber) and taking occasional naps. It is around one of the ski town we witness some Barbary macaque monkeys along the road. We are in the Middle Atlas Mountains.

There is a cedar tree and animal depletion in the Atlas Mountains but they are working to restore it to its more natural state. Ski towns are becoming more popular. The area is changing. Today we notice a vast change in temperature as it decreases down to the 30’s F (Yes we are still in Morocco). We also see letters and symbols on the sides of some of the mountains we drive past while we drive in the valley.

We drive through the Ziz valley where we stop to get high view of a large oasis and see lots of date trees below. We also learn about Date festival in oasis Erfoud أرفود .

We drive by a large reservoir that almost seems out of place with all the sand. The Hassan Addakhil Dam is an artificial dam created to control the Ziz river flow. We stop for a quick lunch along the way. Today is a long drive so the break is nice.

We arrive at the desert and after checking into our room in a kasbah-like hotel we go for a short dune hike to view the sunset. It is very beautiful out here. I wish we had more than one night in the desert. We watch the sunset over the dunes and then enjoy a nice dinner.

Our guide as well as my travel companion take a roll down the dunes for fun. I would partake but I am dehydrated and the roll down would surely give me a headache.

Tomorrow we have another full day exploring what the desert has to show us.

Meknès and Volubilis

Today is an early start. We are traveling three hours to two UNESCO sites.

We first visit Meknès, an imperial capital of the 17th century. We visit a mausoleum, walk around and visit a market. We were supposed to visit a museum of music but it is closed the day we are here.

The Mausoleum of Moulay Isma’il is a former kasbah turned into a mausoleum for a former sultan.

We drive forty-five minutes away from Meknes where we visit the Roman city of Volubilis. This impressive city was destroyed by the same major earthquake that destroyed Lisbon in 1755. It is now being excavated and restored. We discover a large ancient city with some impressive mosaics.

We next stop at a Women’s collective that is sponsored by our tour group and they serve us lunch and tea.

A short drive later we are at Fes for the evening. Since we had such a late lunch we decide to skip dinner and have a drink with some others in the tour instead. We have a day of sightseeing in Fes tomorrow.